Q. You turned it on there on the back nine. What did you find throughout the round, either a rhythm or just comfort?
RYAN GERARD: Yeah, I think I started kind of hitting a lot more fairways and was able to attack in the right spots and kind of play conservative in the other more difficult ones. I felt like I did a really good job of just staying patient throughout the round. I made a couple of bad swings on the front nine and made like kind of one weird decision where I thought the wind was going one way and it was just going the opposite way, and those will kind of get you out here, especially the small misses often lead to big punishments at this golf course.
So just tried to be really, really sharp, really kind of leave the ball in the right spot, keep it in the fairway, and go from there.
Q. What was the hole that the wind kind of flummoxed you?
RYAN GERARD: On 8, it was supposed to be like southwest, south, southwest all afternoon and kind of get up there and felt like I hit like a little bit of a spinnier one and it kind of got up in the air and started moving 30 yards right of where I thought it was going to go, and that was almost straight southeast. So it ended up being southeast for another couple holes after that until, like, 11 or 12. Kind of felt it switch back to where it should have been. So I missed it in a really bad short-sided spot. Unfortunately, didn't make bogey, made double, and those kind of kill you out here.
But there's a lot of trees, there's a lot of moving parts. The margin of error is really, really small on these golf courses when greens are firm, especially out here with the thick rough. So just got to be really precise, commit to it, and kind of know where it's going.
Q. A lot of guys talk about how difficult this golf course is. The margin for error, obviously, you played very well, but is it a case where you played aggressively to conservative targets out here?
RYAN GERARD: Yeah, I don't think we aimed at a flag stick on the back nine and shot 5-under. It's just not something that you can do. You're picking small targets kind of around either the edge of a bunker or a rake or some guy wearing a bright-colored shirt in the background or a TV tower or whatever it might be and really using -- there's a lot of contours to these greens that you can kind of use to your advantage but also stay away from because they will kind of get you.
So just really trusting our targets, wind direction, knowing that the ball's going to bounce out and just try and leave ourselves a lot of good looks, especially ones that you can get underneath the hole. But I felt like that's kind of what we did all afternoon, especially on that last 10 holes or so did a really good job of picking good targets and hitting the ball right at 'em.
Q. Do you prefer the more difficult golf courses? Like, I would assume this one qualifies.
RYAN GERARD: Yeah, definitely. I think you can separate yourself a little bit more in terms of ball striking at some of the more difficult golf courses, which I think is awesome. Sometimes they get maybe a little bit so difficult that you're bordering on the edge of ridiculousness. We're not there yet, but it's playing difficult, it's playing firm, it's playing fair, but if it continues like this, it could get really, really difficult by Saturday. So it should be a fun test, but just going to try and keep the ball in front of us.
Q. Which of the birdies was most satisfying there coming down the stretch?
RYAN GERARD: The one on 16. That hole got me pretty good last year. I just stepped up and hit it right down the line, kind of used the contour of the green to feed it in a little bit. That putt had a lot of swing to it, and just hit a great putt, and I kind of knew it was in 2, 3 feet to go. So those are always good ones, kind of a bonus. Felt like we were getting on a little run there. Yeah, that was a nice one to get revenge from last year.
Q. You closed last year and started this year really, really well. Got a little harder after that. What got harder for you?
RYAN GERARD: I wasn't hitting it quite as good. Just felt like I wasn't making putts. It was kind of one of those where you play for two or three months and your swing's not feeling great or your body's not feeling great and you're just grinding. You kind of always feel like you're in between clubs or you're missing shots and they're just kind of bouncing the wrong way. That's kind of life, that's golf.
You get on three-, four-week stretches where things go your way and you get on three-, four-week stretches where they don't, so I feel like we did a really good job kind of resetting after the PGA Championship. I played a lot of golf leading up to it and kind of through it. But did a really good job of resetting, focusing on the fundamentals, kind of getting back to the basics with some of the things that we're doing.
The game has been trending for a while. We're just starting to see the results that we might have been seeing at home or kind of in practice rounds show up in tournaments, which is a good feeling.
Q. So no drastic changes to have these last couple rounds?
RYAN GERARD: No, nothing too crazy.
Q. Your opening round here was the first at Muirfield Village for you, do you remember anything about it?
RYAN GERARD: I think I shot a lot. I don't really remember what it was. I was like borderline missing the cut, which is ridiculous. I remember looking at the weather forecast sitting in the locker room, and it was going to be like 47 rainy and blowing 30 miles an hour on Friday. And we went out early and somehow shot 2- or 3-under to make the cut pretty comfortably. So I would take 3-under for tomorrow right now and just sleep in. But, yeah, it was kind of a test of patience, you kind of get kicked in the face out here your first couple rounds around it, just because it's one thing prepping for it, but it's another thing when all of a sudden that pin is tucked three from the edge on 12 over the bunker and all of a sudden that target looks a lot smaller. So just getting used to those visuals, getting used to the way the ball bounces, and being comfortable with how fast and firm these greens can get, especially in a tournament around as the week goes on.
Q. Knowing you had that first round like that last year, did you come out here this year with any sort of thoughts in your mind of what might establish a good round in the first round this year?
RYAN GERARD: I've spent a lot of time with my sports psychologist in the last two or three months really focusing on getting off to a better start. Don't think that that's necessarily why I've played bad last year, but I've noticed that my first round scores this year weren't quite as good. I was almost trying to be too patient in spots, letting it come to me instead of going out and getting it. Now, at the same token, you don't want to be so aggressive that you just put yourself in terrible spots. But I think the mindset has shifted a little bit in the first round of someone's going to go out and shoot 5-, 6-, 7-under, you might as well be that guy to go out and chase it a little bit. But follow kind of how the body feels, follow how the golf swing feels, understand that there are spots to attack and spots to be conservative. And we've done a really good job the last few weeks of kind of getting those right, and we've got a couple putts to go to make it feel just a little bit better.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports